Precious
by lureplant
Summary: All gems are precious. A series of Steven Universe oneshots, primarily dealing with love and loss. Current story: Sapphire protects Ruby in battle. Ruby mourns.


**Summary: Sapphire heals. Ruby regrets. Rose comforts.**

The sea spire had, once upon a time, been a place of community.

Now, however, it was abandoned, and Ruby reveled in the isolation it promised.

She huddled in the corner of one of the many levels, leaky roofs and thundering waterfalls drowning out her thoughts. It looked so sad, decrepit and ancient and falling to bits. There were hardly any gems left to fill the halls with laughter and conversation.

Ruby had, personally, never cared much for this place; it was too serene, too stifling, and too wet for her liking. She preferred the warmth of lava rock between her toes, rather than pristine marble that made up the entirety of this ancient place.

But this was where Sapphire came to relax, and Ruby needed to be as close to her as possible.

She could almost hear her melodious tones echoing through the marble corridors, bouncing off pillars and fellow gems alike. Ruby had always been able to pick out Sapphire's voice, even in the rowdiest crowd.

But there was no voice now, and there were no conversations to ignore in favor of focusing on her soothing songs. Ruby was alone in the endless spire, cradling a little blue gem to her chest.

She hated crying, but tears came easily to her. Ruby desperately wished she could numb herself from the pain of failure.

"Your emotions make you who you are," Sapphire had said once. They were sitting beneath a blanket of alien stars, missing a life free from war and destruction. Though she loved this planet, and promised to defend it until the day her gem was shattered, she still felt the war taking it's toll on her psyche. Ruby, despite her furious denial, had felt the tears slipping down her cheeks unbidden.

"Emotions make me weak," she croaked, scrubbing at her eyes. Sapphire had taken her her hands in her own, the silk of her gloves skimming over her calloused fingertips, cool as rain.

Sapphire leaned close and pressed her lips to Ruby's cheeks, kissing away the rivulets of tears that left Ruby thoroughly ashamed.

"Emotion is where we derive our strength."

The red gem slumped down, the lifeless sapphire still cupped in her palms. A few tears clung to it's facets. She gently wiped them away with her thumb.

"Ruby?"

She glanced up, hastily wiping the tears from her cheeks as the heavy footsteps drew closer. The intruder turned down the hall and revealed herself; wild pink hair floating, like clouds, around a gentle face. She had her hands tucked in front of her, the pink quartz on her belly refracting the light of the stars.

Normally, Ruby would have stood at attention in the presence of her leader; she was less familiar with the commander than Sapphire, and always treated her with an air of respect that Ruby showed few others. Now, however, she merely curled back into herself, hoping the motherly gem would leave her to mourn in solitude.

"Ruby," Rose Quartz repeated. She approached slowly, her footsteps overpowering even the distant roar of the waterfalls as she drew nearer. She paused when she was an arm's length away. Ruby glanced up just in time to see her offer a hand.

Her expression must have been pitiful, because her slight smile slipped from her plump lips.

"Ruby, dearest," she sighed. "Everyone is worried about you."

No response came from the little red gem; instead, she tucked her head back into her arms as another wave of tears threatened to spill. She heard the rustling of Rose's skirts as she shifted closer.

_Sapphire's skirts rustled as she ran, spinning and kicking the hulking brute in the jaw. The orange gem stumbled and Ruby pounced, knocking the warrior onto the rocky ground with a solid punch. She heard the sickening crunch of a cracking gem, the citrine embedded on her back completely annihilated. Ruby turned away._

_She saw Sapphire put a hand over her mouth for just an instant. Ruby gave her a reassuring smile, though she still felt sick to her stomach._

_In her distraction, Ruby failed to notice the club sailing towards her head._

"I know you miss her, Ruby," Rose said softly, interuppting the thoughts that had played over and over in her mind. "But she wouldn't want this."

Ruby met Rose's eyes again, warm and gentle and loving, and all she wanted to do was scream. She couldn't stand her pity, not here, not now. Not when she was at her most vulnerable, alone and cold in a place that was once filled with laughter, now filled with deathly silence.

Ruby bit back the shout bubbling up in her throat, swallowing down her angry wish to be alone. Instead, she took a deep breath and scrubbed away the fresh tears.

"But I didn't want this, and she went ahead and did it." She sighed, the sapphire weighing heavy in her hands. "If I had paid attention, if I hadn't let myself be distracted, if I had pushed her away instead, then maybe she would be-"

"She would be in the exact same position you're in," Rose interupted. She, too, had tears welling in her eyes; Ruby immediately felt guilty.

"She made her choice to protect you," Rose whispered, though it sounded louder in the empty room. "Please don't dishonor the choice she made by belittling yourself. Sapphire believed in you, and now you must believe in her."

Rose opened her arms. Without thinking, Ruby launched herself into them. She buried her face in the clouds of Rose's hair and let the dams collapse.

"I just-she just-" Ruby stuttered between sobs.

_Sapphire screamed. Ruby was knocked to the ground in the blink of an eye, distantly aware of fluttering skirts falling onto her legs. The club missed it's intended mark, instead landing squarely on Sapphire's back. She gasped in pain, and Ruby's entire world ground to a halt._

"It's alright," Rose said softly, rocking the smaller gem as she mourned. Ruby could have sworn she felt tears dripping onto her shoulder. Insecurities continued to pour from Ruby's lips, promises and regrets mashing together in incoherent strings of thought. She felt lost.

Rose Quartz held her in silence.

Ruby's sobs eventually petered out, replaced by broken coughs. She pried her hands away from Rose's gown and looked back at the bright blue stone, nestled against the blood red of her own.

_She vanished in a puff of blue smoke, the sapphire of her palm clattering at Ruby's side. Her hands shook as she reached for the abandoned gem, hoping that this was all a trick of the mind, that they were fused and she was merely seeing a future possibility, not a cold, hard fact._

_She was distantly aware of a second puff of smoke, the assailant following Sapphire into the depths of her gem. She heard Pearl saying something to her, but couldn't, for the life of her, comprehend her words._

"How long is she going to make me wait?" Ruby croaked.

Rose sniffled.

Shocked, the tiny warrior glanced up, just in time to see a tear drip down her fearless leader's chin. Rose Quartz smiled lovingly and placed her hand atop the sapphire.

"She will come back to us in time," she reassured. "Have patience."

Ruby sighed, her fingers curling around the precious gem.

The pair sat in silence for some length of time; for all Ruby knew, it could have been weeks. Rose lent her comfort without any further words; her presence was enough to keep the memories from destroying Ruby any further. She left after a time, parting with a kiss to Ruby's forehead.

"If you need to, please come find me."

Ruby nodded before returning to her silent vigil, heart a little lighter.

After twelve evenings apart, Sapphire returned to her.

Ruby had curled herself around the blue gem, attempting to stave off the chill of the spire at night. She had closed her eyes for just a moment, trying to calm her rushing thoughts, when she felt warmth enveloping her.

Her eyes snapped open.

The sapphire began pulsing with vibrant blue light, heating up gradually as it shone brighter. It worked it's way out of her grasping fingertips and rose into the sea-spray air.

Ruby watched in awe as a silhouette formed, flowing skirts and lovely curls cascading down in a sea of light. The regenerated gem finally dropped to the marble floor, dusting off her skirts.

Ruby pounced.

She tackled Sapphire to the ground in a hug, nuzzling her face against her cheek. The tears came forth again, but she had stopped caring about them long ago. She merely reveled in her partner's existence, in the solidness of body and the silk of her hair.

"Ruby!" Sapphire giggled, kissing her nose and lips. Ruby could feel Sapphire's grin falter as her lips skimmed the red gem's tearstained cheeks.

"Please don't do that to me again," Ruby whispered. Sapphire pulled back and slowly shook her head.

"You know I can't promise that. I'll always try to protect you. You'd do the same for me, wouldn't you?"

Ruby looked at her for a long, long moment. She memorized the curve of her plump lips, the dusting of blush on her cheeks, the solidness of her nimble fingers looped around her neck. The voice that Ruby had been aching for paused, waiting for a response.

Ruby kissed her.

"I would," she murmured.

**A/N: Guess who's obsessed with sentient rocks now**


End file.
